“Hokusai and Japonisme” at the National Museum of Western Art highlights various ways the artist’s impact changed the course of European art. It brings together more than 300 items including prints, sketches and paintings by the master himself and, from Europe, everything from paintings, prints and sculpture to plates, vases, lamps and furniture inspired by Hokusai’s style.

 

The exhibition starts with examples of how early European diplomats and traders included reproductions of Hokusai works, in particular his woodblock prints, in their travel diaries and accounts of Japan. Uncredited, the works here were used less for their aesthetic merit than as illustrations of the life and customs of a strange, exotic land. In one book, Hokusai’s depictions of Japanese warriors were reproduced in reverse, as though they had been traced directly. Art dealers and critics in Europe, meanwhile, began championing Hokusai as a major artist, highlighting his work in book collections of Japanese art and dedicated publications.

While it’s true that Hokusai’s works in many ways formed the backbone of the burgeoning Japonisme movement, when we consider how, for example, Vincent Van Gogh was enamoured with the work of Hokusai’s contemporary Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), it can appear a bit much for the entire roots of Japonisme to be carried on one artist’s shoulders.

The exhibition is structured around Hokusai’s achievements in various areas such as the human figure, animals, landscape and his use of motifs, all of which caught the attention of European artists and connoisseurs.

Hokusai’s flower and plant motifs were thought to lent themselves perfectly to the adornment of glass and tableware, such as a 19th-century plate displaying a chrysanthemum and sparrow design by Felix Bracquemond and Francois-Eugene Rousseau, and a morning glory lamp (1904) by Emile Galle, whose use of Japonisme helped establish art nouveau.

While the origin of these designs, and, for example, the many items based on Hokusai’s masterpiece “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (c. 1833) is obvious, the exhibition also highlights how other European artworks were indebted to Hokusai. Claude Monet is just one of such artists who placed strong vertical trees in the foreground of a landscape painting to break up the frame and explore different ways of presenting space — a technique lifted directly from Hokusai.

European art’s increased attention paid to the depiction of the human figure in a variety of activities and poses is also attributed to Hokusai, who keenly observed everyday gestures and habits of people and depicted them in his work. His “Hokusai Manga,” an early 18th-century collection of sketches of everyday life, featured throughout the exhibition, also influenced Edgar Degas, whose famous ballet dancers — such as one who stands with her hands on her hips — are compared to the poses in Hokusai’s studies of sumo wrestlers. Some of Degas’ paintings of race horses (1866-68) were also based on studies in the series.

In its investigation into Japan-inspired European art, “Hokusai and Japonisme” is rich, varied and exhaustive. One of its strengths is that it opens up the survey of Japonisme from the usual focus on Central Europe to include lesser-known examples from, for example, Poland. It offers a great showcase on how Hokusai’s talent itself swept over Europe like a great wave.

“Hokusai and Japonisme” at The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo runs until Jan. 28; 9:30 a.m. — 5:30 p.m. ¥1,600. Closed Mon. www.nmwa.go.jp/en/exhibitions/2017hokusai.html

Following criticism from the opposition bloc, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito pair agreed to keep the Diet session open until early December and have Abe deliver a policy speech.

The compromise was aimed at appeasing a frustrated opposition, which had slammed the ruling camp’s initial plan to hold a Diet session lasting just eight days — a move the opposition claimed would allow Abe to avoid questions over two favoritism scandals that significantly eroded his support rate earlier in the year.

With Wednesday’s re-election, Abe’s immediate focus now turns to Donald Trump’s forthcoming visit to Tokyo, which starts on Sunday.

Trump’s visit is being touted as a “perfect opportunity” to demonstrate Tokyo’s watertight alliance with Washington and a chance to reaffirm their joint commitment to maximizing pressure on nuclear-armed North Korea.

Abe will also waste no time in working toward compiling by year-end an economic package worth ¥2 trillion — a key pledge in his campaign for the Oct. 22 election — to bolster education and social security programs, including free day care and kindergarten services and support for young people in poverty.

In the longer term, the focus will be on how aggressively Abe is willing to push for his political goal of revising Japan’s postwar Constitution.

The October election gave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito bloc a two-thirds supermajority in the Lower House. That, together with control of a similar share of the Upper House, allows Abe to call the first ever referendum on revising the U.S.-drafted charter.

Combined with opposition parties in favor of constitutional amendment — including Kibo no To and Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party) — the pro-revision forces in the Lower House now control a whopping 371 seats, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the 465-seat chamber.

Nonetheless, timing for a constitutional amendment could prove tricky.

The next Upper House election, scheduled for the summer of 2019, will naturally discourage the ruling coalition from risking any politically sensitive endeavors in the months before.

But waiting until after the poll could also be a gamble, as there is no guarantee that the current two-thirds supermajority would be retained in the election.

These factors suggest Abe is likely to stick to the initially rumored timeline of kicking off a referendum by the end of next year’s ordinary legislative session, which usually convenes in January.

Since the public is still divided over whether to revise the Constitution, Abe may for now postpone formalizing the status of the SDF and prioritize less contentious issues, such as having the Constitution guarantee free education and better define Japan’s decentralization, said Tomoaki Iwai, a professor of political science at Nihon University.

In an NHK survey in March, 57 percent of respondents opposed revising Article 9, while 25 percent supported such a move.

That the CDP, which opposes Abe’s bid to change the charter, won enough votes to become the biggest opposition party means the prime minister is likely to tread carefully in revising Article 9, the professor added.

“It is imperative that Abe calls the referendum based on a wide range of support from opposition parties. Such broad support will make his proposal look more acceptable for the public and ultimately help him survive the vote,” Iwai said.

This means cooperation from the CDP, in addition to pro-revision opposition parties, is almost unavoidable, he said.

“Abe’s real wish is to change Article 9, but there are other ways he can still have the honor of being remembered as the first prime minister who revised the charter,” Iwai said.